The Last Theurgist
by WritingBookworm
Summary: After a battle gone wrong, the Life School goes extinct- almost. Now it's up to a group of wizards to overcome near-impossible odds if they wish to restore the Spiral from darkness... [Sequel to TNM. Reading TNM, while appreciated, is NOT a prerequisite.]
1. Prologue

~The Last Theurgist~

_Part 1: Eyes of Gold_

Prologue

The two train passengers looked ordinary enough- a girl, small and possessing a circular face, and a boy, tall and rigid, Barely anyone threw them second looks despite their ages- no more than sixteen. No one knew who they really were.

The boy looked to the girl, whose short blonde hair served as a veil to protect her moist blue eyes.

He reached out a hand, as if to comfort her, but then switched the action to resting his hand in his lap. "What's wrong?" he asked.

The girl flinched, as if bugs had begun to encircle her. "Jacob, you know what's wrong," she said in a voice that was clearly trying to be intimidating, but wasn't succeeding at all.

Jacob sighed, looking away from her as reluctant as someone forcing themselves to look away form a dying loved one.

"Valdus," he whispered, still frozen at what had happened.

She flinched once more.

Jacob turned back to her again. He had to provide her with some means of comfort- he owed it to her now that he had brought up that name.

"Everything will be fine," Jacob tried. "We know full well that Grace is okay and in one piece, and I don't think Ian and Nick would have easily gone down without-"

Finally she looked up. "And we have no means of contacting them now that we're here, on... on Earth. The place with no magic-"

"Nuh-uh-uh," Jacob's forefinger waved back and forth in a scolding manner, but the impish smile on his face broke it all. "Remember just why we're here."

The girl's lips tugged upwards to allow a small smile, but folded into a frown once more before the smile could be completed.

"True, but this is just one person out of _seven billion_. Earth is by far the most populated world in the Spiral. How're we supposed to find this person?"

Her frown was contagious- Jacob's grin faded as well when the train shuddered to a stop. Jacob leaned to get a closer look as passengers trotted out- a small bench with some shrubbery socializing with it, completed by the starless curtain of night.

No, this didn't look like their stop. But it did look like it was coming close.

"Well, when did you get so pessimistic?" His voice was dripping with disbelief. "Not a few days ago you were all like, _I'm Alyssa Thunderslash and nothing can beat me_! I found it annoying at first, but now I kinda miss it-"

"Yes," Alyssa cut off sharply. "And I miss Valdus before he... you know. I miss the Spiral, the Spiral that wasn't plunged into blackness. I miss Angie..."

From there on out Alyssa couldn't continue. Angela Thunderslash... she remembered when Angie had been so young, she remembered when she had been sorted as the first necromancer in the Thunderslash family for generations, and she had told her that story, The Necromancer's Matter. It had provided Angie with such a comfort, always remembering Destiny Seagem, Vladimir Thorn, Neela Waterpetal and many more characters.

That had provided Angie the strength to grow up into Angela in later years. Angela had thrived in her studies even after her teacher, Malistaire Drake, had ripped out the Death School just two weeks after she discovered her school. She learned quickly, and within a matter of time had matched the master diviner easily at an adept rank.

To put it simply, Angela had surpassed Alyssa. Which was the bad part.

Angela had got it into her head that she could find her old teacher, battle and surpass him easily, and bring him back to Ravenwood without much trouble.

She wasn't seen since.

Angela's disappearance was what motivated Alyssa to begin her own quest- collect a good amount of people, find Angie and defeat Malistaire Drake if she had to. As a result, she had met Ian and Nick, Grace and Jacob, and her childhood friend Valdus joined fairly quickly-

They were close. They found the location of the former Death teacher, at the very top of Dragonspyre. In the process when encountering a large amount of helephants, Ian, Nick and Grace had all sacrificed themselves so she, Jacob and Valdus could move on and confront Malistaire on Angie's disappearance.

These sacrifices were, in the end, all for nothing. At the last moment everything had gone so wrong and so suddenly. As a result, most of the worlds in the Spiral were plunged into darkness, save Earth.

And in the end, Angela was nowhere to be found.

"She's dead, isn't she?" Alyssa whispered. She hoped that by saying it that it would make her stronger somehow and force her to accept the truth- all it did was make her heart quiver even more.

"You don't know that," Jacob said in a small voice.

He was just saying that to comfort her. As if comfort made a difference on Angela's well-being.

"You never met her." The words stung into Jacob much more harshly than Alyssa intended. "You don't know the kind of things she would get herself into. It's time for me to face the truth- I'll never see her again!"

Despite how fierce the words were, Jacob still felt a need to reassure her. He genuinely did believe that her little sister was out there, somewhere.

"Well, dead or not, we'll find her." Jacob's golden eyes locked with Alyssa's pained blue ones. "Angela Thunderslash will be found, along with the theurgist."

He refused to let go even when Alyssa looked away.

"Yeah... Angie... and that theurgist." Alyssa inhaled deeply, beginning to stabilize herself. "Speaking of the theurgist, are we there yet?"

"Close," Jacob said. "After finding and training this person, we'll only have a few more to go."

"Myth, Star, Death and Sun," Alyssa agreed. "We'll have them all after that."

"The strongest of each school," Jacob continued. "Only those at the peak of their abilities will have the power to restore the Spiral."

Alyssa nodded. "It's really too bad, what happened to all of the theurgists."

"I know." Jacob's voice shrunk. "More than 'too bad'- the entire Life School... extinct..."

She grimaced, as if she were walking slowly toward a pit full of acid. "I just... always wonder... what did the Life School do to deserve that?"

Jacob shook his head sadly. "For all we know, nothing. It could have just been sheer cruelty."

"I don't think that's it," Alyssa ventured. "He didn't exterminate any other School."

"That we know of."

Alyssa didn't respond. She stared at the sights around them plainly. "At least there's one he missed- because this other theurgist is in a world without magic."

"I don't think he ever would have guessed," Jacob agreed. "Thank Bartleby we have Grace."

"I also wonder... again, how will we even find the theurgist? We don't even know that person's gender. We only know the location-"

"Los Angeles, California," Jacob finished.

Alyssa lightly closed her eyes. Los Angeles... why here, of all places? It was one of the most populated cities in the country, according to Grace. Finding the theurgist in here would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

"...How will we know?" Alyssa opened her eyes again.

For the longest time, Jacob was silent, unsure of what to say. He didn't show it, but he had just as many doubts as Alyssa. But he couldn't show that.

"I suppose we'll just know," Jacob tried to make his voice sound unconcerned.

The answer was good enough for Alyssa. She finally smiled weakly and gave a faint nod of her head. Jacob's words in mind, she turned to look aimlessly out of one of the train windows.

Earth.. it was so unfamiliar to her, yet amazing in ways she wouldn't have dared to imagine. Brilliant lights winked out of buildings, lifelike pictures were used for advertisements and there seemed to be more people walking around here than the entire population of Wizard City.

The train pulled to a stop once more. Alyssa let her muscles relax, barely realizing Jacob standing up and gesturing for her to get up. This allowed her a bit of comfort, telling her that she'd find the last theurgist.

Whoever that was.

* * *

**A/N: And that, my friends, is the prologue of the Last Theurgist. Yaaaaayz! *Confetti***

**Anyways. Once again, this is a loose sequel to The Necromancer's Matter. Reading TNM, while I want you to do it as an author who wants her stories to be read, is NOT a prerequisite. There will be a few references to it here or there that you won't be able to catch if you don't read it, but you shall surely be able to survive. Plus it's more than 100,000 words long, so. . . yeah, I would kind of understand if you didn't have time to read it. :P**

**Some of you may notice that TNM, on this site, is still ongoing and yet here is the companion. That's because on other sites, TNM is done. And it's almost done on here. And I was very anxious to finally get this out. Aaaaaaand I wanted to post something on the first day of 2013. So why the crap not?**

**So- um- yeah. Peace. Hope you enjoyed this, and that you like what is to come!**

**~WritingBookworm**


	2. Chapter 1: Birthday

Chapter 1: Birthday

Riley Carlisle was fascinated.

A few seconds ago, she felt like she had been falling, down, down, plunging into blackness- yet she felt relaxed, as if she were floating on water.

No more was she falling, but now standing on some sort of stained-glass floor as far as her vision would allow her. Designed on that stained-glass floor were ten different designs- a cloud and thunderbolt, a snowflake, fire, a skull, some intricately designed triangle, a leaf and a scale, a sun, a moon, and a star, all surrounding an image in the middle.

It was a picture featuring a large tree, but it was the oddest thing- it had eyes and a mouth. Its leaves overlooked a few small buildings.

Normally, it would have looked like something coming from a five-year-old's picture book. But it was familiar to Riley- she recognized that place from her dreams.

Before Riley could think much more about it, a calm, resonating voice announced, _Welcome, Riley. _

Right after he finished, ten pedestals blinked to life, strategically placed according to the symbols._Discover which one fits you._

The first one Riley dashed to was the flame. Dangerous, destructive, yet helpful- that was her, and anyone who knew her wouldn't argue.

Her short arm reached for the fire- only for it to disintegrate and slip between her fingers like a breeze carrying dust along an old road.

Riley's eyes followed what was left of the flame, watching it be carried away in a mix of awe and confusion. It blew away form the scene, taking to the air upwards and fated to never be seen again.

With that, Riley's eyes lowered to meet the pedestal below- it was a leaf.

Curious, she abandoned any hope she had for the fire and started for the leaf. She might as well recycle through these symbols until she found the right one.

To her amazement, a bright, golden hue extended from the leaf once her hands came into contact with it, slithering in the air until it boldly surrounded the leaf. Riley withdrew her hands when the leaf floated higher and higher into the air until it greeted her head.

_A theurgist,_ the voice remarked as all of the pedestals and symbols crumbled away just as the fire symbol had. _The School of Life. This is your primary School- your secondary will be found out as you proceed._

Riley knitted her eyebrows in thought. Schools? As in the one she attended every day? She didn't want to go to more schools... and just who was speaking to her, anyways?

_Now, magic is a combination of love and hate,_ the deep, ominous voice said. With that, a countless amount of new pedestals appeared in the place of the ones before. _What do you love most?_

Wait- magic? Was Riley hearing him right?

Then she reminded herself that the symbols carved into the floor- they were from her dreams. So perhaps this was a dream as well.

What did she have to lose?

Riley found herself crossing over the a pedestal displaying a moon. This was no surprise to herself- the moon symbolized a variety of her interests. Her favorite Greek goddess was Artemis. In her favorite TV show, _The Secret Life of Marissa Trueblood_, the heroine was a werewolf. And just the night before, she and Sabrina had spent hours gazing upon the night sky.

Like the fire, this crumbled when her fingers brushed over it, but unlike the fire, something quickly replaced it. When Riley tossed her head over her shoulder, she could see that all of the pedestals held something new.

_Good. Now, what do you hate?_

Riley spotted what she hated as quickly as a mere snap of a finger.

The shield.

She was sure that if anyone were here with her and heard the voice as well, they'd be wondering why she was crossing over to the shield out of all things. Well, Riley had a pretty bad experience involving shields, one that had left a brutally permanent mark. As if her asthma wasn't enough...

As expected, once Riley grasped the shield, it faded away into a dust-like substance. With that, all of the pedestals flashed away, not to be seen by her again.

_And there we have it. Take care, Riley Moonshield, of the School of Life. . ._

Violet irises were revealed, her room slowly coming into focus.

Riley blinked a few times, propping herself up with her elbows. Gradually she digested her long, white dresser, a bulletin board crowded with photos of her, Sabrina, and some of Alex, her ceiling fan...

She knitted her eyebrows. So she was right- it had all been a dream. Weird.

A smile then watered down all thoughts of the dream. Wait, this was the day, wasn't it? April 22nd...

Riley swung her legs over her bed and began getting ready for school. Today was the day- her fifteenth birthday. She was a little disappointed that she couldn't see _The Secret Life of Marissa Trueblood _movie with Sabrina thanks to Track practice, but her birthday was still her birthday.

Riley retained that smile all the way to bunching her long blonde hair and snagging it into a ponytail. So instead, they'd be going to a small mine that Riley was anxious to prove wasn't haunted. Finally, she'd get some respect among her fellow Freshmen.

"Hey. Happy birthday, kiddo," Trent Carlisle remarked once Riley entered the kitchen.

Riley chuckled. "Thanks, Dad! Can't wait for the birthday dinner and the mine trip."

The tire repairman frowned at this. "Riley... you're positive that you want to go in that mine?"

Riley rolled her eyes as she began pouring orange juice into a mug. "It's not haunted, Dad, that's just-"

"It's not that- I'm worried about you going in there with your asthma and the limp in your right leg."

Riley slitted her lips. "Look, I have my inhaler if anything goes wrong, and I really doubt that my limp will come into play here. Plus, Sabrina and hopefully Alex will be here with me- I'll be fine."

"Alex?"

Riley made sure to turn away from her Dad so he couldn't see her cheeks reddening- she wouldn't let anyone know save Sabrina that she had a crush on Alex Zelinski.

"Oh, just a classmate that I've been getting to know." Riley waved her hand dismissively as she drank the orange juice. "I want to try getting to know other people, that's all."

She could practically feel her Dad narrowing his eyes- never had she displayed a want to get to know other people. After all, she had gone on for years hating the world and shoving everyone who tried to get close to her away as if they were a dead rat laying on the street, due to her history. Until Sabrina came along.

As predicted, this change in personality did not go unnoticed by Trent. "Erm, Riley... you want to get to know others?"

Riley sighed and set her cup in the dishwasher, then turned to face him. "Oh come on- you know I've been more outgoing ever since meeting Sabrina. I even joined the Crestwood Track and Field Team. Plus, it's my birthday! Why shouldn't I be cheerful?"

Her Dad chuckled. "You've got a point there. Just be careful in there, all right?"

The TV broke their conversation. "...like the Red Flash has done it again!"

Riley raised her eyebrows, eyes suddenly glued to the image of police tape surrounding a bank. "According to Christopher Perry, the Red Flash was, this time, somehow able to set the robbers on fire, then later encase them in ice! And true to his word, later on in investigation, two of the confirmed robbers were trapped completely in blocks of ice."

Trent shook his head sadly. The Red Flash was somewhat of a superhero around the country, but he never believed in the acts that this so-called Red Flash could perform. "Hurry with your breakfast, Riley- you don't want to be late twice in a row."

Riley nodded hastily and peeled her eyes away from the screen. "Right!"

* * *

"Ugh, this place is, like, so _disgusting_!"

"Shut up and focus, Sestiva. Remember your mission."

The sixteen year old sighed dramatically as she tucked a strand of blue behind her ear. "I know, I know. Find that random dude, right?"

He was getting more and more agitated every second he was talking to this prissy thautamerge, childhood friend or no. "This is not a _random dude_, Sestiva. He just so happens to possess one of the most powerful objects in the Spiral- one that is of vital importance."

Sestiva Willowblood nodded, firmly focus on what was ahead of her instead of those oh-so-ugly clothes and traditions that the Earth residents held- which wasn't easy. But she'd do anything for him- the two had started out as friends, finding similarities in each other due to their crazy hair colors. But now her feelings had blossomed into something more, and Sestiva was eager to see if he felt the same way about her.

To do that, she had to keep a level head. She couldn't afford to get distracted by stores or people or whatever. She especially couldn't handle the fact that this place just didn't have enough magic altogether.

"Still, a wizard can only, like, focus so much when they're in a place that _reeks_of non-magic!" she complained.

Sestiva heard an amused chuckle ringing through her mind. "That's true- it was pretty hard getting ahold of you through mind communication. Anyways, I trust you are in Los Angeles by now?"

"Uh-huh. Hopefully I can find him in the next few days. Anyways, where the heck is Tarlac? What's he doing?"

"A mission that you need not concern about at this time."

Sestiva pouted. "Can you give me a hint?"

"Again, you need to focus. Perhaps I'll tell you what Tarlac's up to as a reward, all right?"

This idea lit up Sestiva's deep blue eyes. "Okay! Sounds good!"

"Make sure to report to me as soon as you spot him, all right? When you find him, do not approach him- wait for me to arrive. He is much too dangerous to be reckoned with."

Sestiva nodded eagerly. "Will do."

"Oh, and one more thing."

"What's that?"

"According to my sources, a female diviner and male pyromancer are in the location as well."

Sestiva raised her eyebrows in disgust as she saw a woman dressed in a repulsive orange. "Wait... Alyssa and Jacob?"

"Precisely."

"So, what about it?"

For a moment, all was still on the other end. Confused when he didn't respond, Sestiva stopped walking and tilted her head. "Um-"

"If you see them, dispose of them."

Sestiva nodded carefully. She knew that he had a history with them, so she wondered if he thought it was hard to say that kind of stuff- but yet again, if they were after the same thing as them, than that was a big no-no, and they had to be taken care of. And besides, it would sure be fun battling them- she hadn't gotten a chance to practice in a bit, and she was sure their screams afterwards would be pleasing to her ears

"Sure thing, Valdus."

With that, Sestiva skipped freely among the Los Angeles sidewalks, pumped for a battle and more eager than ever to find him.

* * *

**A/N: While reading this chapter, you may have noticed a VERY obvious reference to Kingdom Hearts. I did not intend to copy them at all- in fact, it was more or less a shout out to the series as a thanks to how much it's impacted my life. :) And BTW, if one of you just so happen to be a fan of it as well and can point out the reference in a review- well, do that! ^.^ Whoever gets it right first gets virtual cupcakes.**

**Review, please!**


	3. Chapter 2: Found

Chapter 2: Found

"Yo! Sabrina!"

Long brown hair poured over the Freshman's shoulders, staying there even as she turned her head to face her friend.

A small, hearty giggle tumbled out of her mouth as Riley took her place next to her on the fresh spring grass. "You're so loud," she noted.

Riley smirked. "I thought you knew by now to deal with it, Sabrina," she said as she took a bite of her sandwich. At last- lunch. School had dragged on and on today, and now, finally a small reward was here.

"Anyways, happy birthday," Sabrina congratulated in her soft voice, emerald green eyes shining.

A smile grew on Riley's face for the umpteenth time today. "Thanks! Oh, speaking of which, are you ready to go to the 'haunted' mine?"

Sabrina shrugged and turned away from Riley. "As ready as ever, I suppose. It seems fun."

Riley knitted her eyebrows. "I still don't get why you think going to a mine is fun. Usually it isn't your thing- you prefer indoor stuff, dontcha?"

The comment caught Sabrina off-guard. "Oh- um, well... it is your birthday, and I'm going with you, so it should be fun, right?"

Riley didn't let either the tinges of red on her cheeks or the way she wouldn't look at her unnoticed. She kept this in mind even as she felt a pair of eyes boar into her back. This allured her to turn her head around and raise her eyebrows.

It was him... Alex. Alex Zelinski.

Riley whipped her head around before Alex could think much of her turning around. "He's right behind me!" she whispered. "I wonder how to ask him to go to the mine with me-"

"Simple- ask him," Sabrina said as-a-matter-of-factly. "But if you really feel so nervous, I can come with you-"

"That'd be great!" Riley launched from the ground eagerly like a rabbit. "Well, come on-"

"Okay, okay." Sabrina chastised as she took her time in standing up. "Slow down a bit, why dontcha?"

Riley huffed impatiently, but didn't say anything to combat Sabrina's scolding.

Sabrina nodded her head toward Alex. "Well? Let's go."

The two friends crossed over to the fellow Freshman artist. "Hey Alex!" Riley chirped.

Alex looked up from his food. "Hmm? Oh- Riley. Hey." His eyes then slid to Sabrina, and a smile overpowered his formal expression. "Sabrina," he greeted happily.

Sabrina flexed her fingers nervously and smiled back. "Hi! Anyways-"

"Riley, right?"

The blonde swung around to see another older girl, decked in purple clothes.

"Um, yeah..." Riley nodded cautiously.

The girl looked to her right, and from there Riley could see that she had a companion- a boy with dark, chocolate-colored skin and eyes that glimmered like the gold in a newly discovered treasure chest.

"Mind if we see you for a moment?"

Normally, Riley would have protested. But there seemed to be something... _otherworldly_... hanging around them. She was curious...

Riley nodded. "Explain the situation to Alex, will you?" she asked Sabrina, not even turning her head to look at her.

"I will."

With that, the girl began walking away, her legs shaking like jello, as if she'd just found a long-lost sister or something. Her hand eagerly beckoned Riley over to a secluded spot.

When they were at last alone together, the girl took a deep breath. "First off, I have to introduce ourselves. My name is Alyssa Thunderslash. This is Jacob Goldeneyes."

Thunderslash? Goldeneyes? What kind of last names were those?

"We came here to talk to you about something of high importance," Jacob spoke up.

"You're..." Alyssa drew in a deep breath. "We might think that you're the one we're looking for."

Riley knitted her eyebrows. "Looking for me? For what?" She threw a glance at Sabrina and Alex- Sabrina was doing as Riley requested and telling her about Riley's party.

"You're a theurgist," Jacob bluntly said. "We don't have enough confirmation of this, but there's something nagging at us telling us that you're the theurgist we're looking for."

For the longest time, Riley didn't say anything. What was this guy saying...?

Riley smiled mockingly. "Right. Like I know what that's supposed to mean."

"It means that you need to help us save the Spiral, before the darkness feeds on your world too!" Alyssa suddenly burst, hunching over and balling her fists.

"Uh-huh. And I'm supposed to believe that?"

"Listen, you, if you don't shut up and listen to us-"

Riley waved a hand dismissively. "I've listened to you enough. I'm sick of having these sick jokes being played on me, you know. I've had them all my life- now, go away before I get a teacher."

With that, Riley stormed away angrily, almost not able to believe that people would play a sick joke on her like that. She was too enveloped in anger to see Alyssa and Jacob exchange worried glances.

* * *

Valdus Nightheart was getting impatient.

He should have had results by now, from both Sestiva and Tarlac. Sure, Sestiva was ditsy, and sometimes was too distracted by foolish things, but Tarlac was a profound genius necromancer. He surely expected better from him.

Then he could hear Sestiva's voice.

"Found him!"

Valdus straightened up in his chair.

"So you have?" he asked smoothly, his deep voice resembling a calm tide of the ocean. The calm before the storm.

"Mmhmm! It was kind of easy- you could tell he was trying to pass off as a normal human, but he still stood out quite a bit."

Valdus closed his eyes. "Excellent, Willowblood." Now all he had to do was wait for Tarlac.

"So anyways, you, like, promised to tell me what Tarlac was doing," Sestiva pestered. "Well?"

"He's finding someone, same as you. He's halfway across this world."

"Really? Who?"

"That will be classified as of now."

"OH COME ON!"

Valdus smirked softly and decided not to go into Tarlac's mission anymore. "I'm not telling you because I can't afford to have you distracted. Now that you have found him, you must strike swiftly. Show no mercy."

"R-Right. When?"

"Is he alone right now?"

Hundreds of miles away, Sestiva sighed. "No. A lot of people will see me if I attack right now."

"So we must wait. Stalk him. Get him alone, tonight. I will come to assist you."

"H-Hey! I can do this just fine on my own!"

"That may be true, but this is someone of vital importance we're talking about," Valdus calmly reasoned. "For we absolutely cannot afford to mess up."

* * *

**A/N: I forgot to add the last two times- the beautiful cover image was made by AthenaLionheart on Wizard101Central. :D**


	4. Chapter 3: The Mine

Chapter 3: The Mine

"This is awesome!"

Riley brightly skipped in the mine despite the limp in her leg, the light of her headlamp swirling all over the depths of the mine. Thankfully, despite how sudden it was to Alex, he had remarked that it would be fun and tagged along with her and Sabrina.

With Sabrina, exploring the mine was awesome. With Sabrina and Alex, exploring the mine was paradise.

"Um, watch your step," Sabrina said uneasily. "Can't have your limp coming into play."

Riley stopped skipping to turn around and look at Sabrina. "Seriously, will you quit worrying?" she said lazily. "We'll all be just fine."

"You know, why exactly do you want to go to a _mine_ for your birthday?" Alex quipped.

Riley shrugged. "I want to prove to everyone that this mine isn't haunted, and perhaps even gain a little respect around here. That, and, well, going to a mine in general seems cool."

But Alex wasn't paying any attention. He had looked behind him nonchalantly-

His heart skipped a beat.

Alex reeled in a deep breath. "Um, guys?" He wasn't quite sure how to explain this...

He then shook his head rapidly, knowing that he'd have to get himself together, and quickly. After all, they didn't know anything-

"RUN!"

Alex's sudden yell jarred Riley out of her own little imagination and sent her head whirling about. "Wait, what-"

Then she saw a pale figure in the distance. One that looked to be of a girl...

Suddenly she could hear another voice, likely from her. "Nu-uh-uh!"

Wait... a ghost?! Were the legends true after all?

The girl lifted her arm, and out from it shot a comet-like burst, aimed at the ceiling. The burst split and solidified into ice once it contacted the ceiling, then shattered abruptly. As a result, the whole mine seemed to shake horrifically and large rocks began pelting down.

Alex's eyes widened, and his lower lipped dropped open. Then he shook his head rapidly. "MOVE!"

With that Riley watched him break into a sprint, putting as much distance from the girl and the collapsing rocks as he could. She also watched him unearth a small, stick-thing that she couldn't make out very well-

A pulsing rumble above her broke her out of her thoughts. Riley looked up-

The mine ceiling was collapsing.

For a second, Riley was too awestruck to do anything. But when she pushed herself out of her small trance and came to her senses, it was too late. The rocks were already upon her.

Sabrina also noticed this. She had ran out of the way in time, following Alex's lead. She threw her head behind her-

_Riley_.

She was going to get crushed!

As if her body had a mind of its own, she spun around on her heel and dashed towards Riley at the speed of light. "Riley!"

Riley looked to her left to see Sabrina running towards her, and the next thing she knew, she was thrown on the ground-

Suddenly all was quiet.

Riley hacked a few coughs, slowly coming to her senses. What... what had just happened?

She grunted as she helped herself up to her feet and looked around. It was so dark in here... Riley then realized that the impact of hitting the ground must have done something to her light.

Riley was barely able to breathe as she readjusted her light, adrenaline coursing through her veins. What about Alex and Sabrina? Where were they? Were they safe? Oh gosh, she shouldn't have come here-

The headlight now fixed and secured around her head, she directed it at the wall of rocks. Riley scanned the new change in the mine slowly-

Sabrina.

Riley gasped, instinctively taking a step back. There was her friend, buried under all of the rocks, bloodied and battered up, eyes closed and body limp...

"SABRINA!"


	5. Chapter 4: Betrayed

Chapter 4: Betrayed 

Riley darted to Sabrina as fast as she could.

She shook her desperately. "No... Sabrina! Oh mercy- stop playing around! Wake up!"

But she didn't.

A sigh interrupted Riley's grieving. "And he just _has_ to get away, doesn't he? Oh well- I'll catch that boy no matter what!"

Riley's head swiveled around to see the form that she had seen earlier, far back into the mine. Apparently she wasn't a ghost- just a trick of the light. But she still caught Riley aback with her short blue hair.

"Wait- what boy?" Riley ventured uneasily.

The girl looked to her, surprised. Then she relaxed and twisted one of the two braids in front of her face. "The one who was with you guys. DUH."

Riley's eyes widened. "You mean Alex?" Already she felt bile rising up her throat. "So you're the one who made the rocks fall! You..."

In a flash, Riley ran up to the blue-haired girl, yanked her collar, then slammed her into a wall. "WHAT HAPPENED TO SABRINA, YOU LITTLE-"

"Isn't it obvious? She's dead."

Riley's head whipped around to see a new figure coming to join them. He was even weirder than the girl- dark green hair that fell past his shoulders elegantly and startling crimson eyes, complete with a stocky build and black, yellow and blue robes that looked like it came straight out of a fantasy novel Sabrina usually read.

The thought of Sabrina bit into her gut, then slowly remembered his words. _She's dead_...

"What do you mean, she's dead?" Riley spoke carefully, and slowly her fingers uncurled from her grip on the girl's shirt.

"Isn't it obvious?" the boy pointed out. "That girl was crushed under a pile of giant boulders. I don't exactly think anyone could survive that."

Riley had known that Sabrina was dead, but now that the boy said it aloud, it forced her to face the truth, making reality one hundred times harder to bear.

Sabrina... she'd never see her smile again, she'd never laugh with her... it was all gone, just like that...

Tears pooled in her ears, then bit by bit they released and streamed down her face, one after another. She balled her fists. No...

And if that girl hadn't chased after them-

A painful scream tore out, and a green light began to gather around her, slowly intertwining together to make a symbol- then the symbol in front of her broke, and out from it came a happy, red-bearded man... a leprechaun?

The boy's eyes goggled, and in a flash, another symbol materialized in front of him. He quickly dispelled it to have a minotaur appear, swing its axe, and chop the leprechaun in two. Quickly after that the minotaur dissolved.

Riley tilted her head in confusion. What had happened...

But the boy seemed surprised, almost frightened, despite handling the situation with more than enough ease.

"Wh-what?" the boy sputtered. "I thought I'd eliminated all of you theurgists!"

Theurgist... wait a moment... those other two people, back at Crestwood, had mentioned theurgists, hadn't they?

Riley's eyes widened when she remembered the dream she had. That had... also mentioned theurgists...

The boy quickly recomposed himself, turned to the blue-haired girl, and nodded. "Sestiva, quickly. We must dispatch of her _immediately_. No mistakes-"

"VALDUS!"

The boy whirled around to see the two other people Riley had seen earlier- what were their names again? Jacob? Alyssa? Yeah, she thought that was it...

Jacob stormed over to the green-haired boy, Valdus, while Alyssa looked downright horrified, stiffly making herself walk over.

Jacob gritted his teeth. "Good thing we got here quickly," he seethed. "So we weren't the only ones looking for her!"

Valdus furrowed his eyebrows. "The theurgist? Actually, I hadn't known she even existed until now. And speaking of our target... Sestiva, after him. I'll take care of this."

Sestiva grinned evilly and licked her lips. "With pleasure."

She was going to go after Alex again, wasn't she?

Sestiva aimed a stick at the wall of boulders, and within seconds a burst of ice darted to the boulders. The ice broke a part, making a perfect opening for her.

Riley shook with anger, then launched herself at the opening. She wouldn't get away!

But she did when the boulders fell.

"What're you after?!" Jacob accused.

"Why, old friend, I believe that need not concern you." Valdus's voice rippled over Jacob's anger passively.

"It has everything to do with us!"

Jacob whirled around to see a shaking Alyssa.

Alyssa drew a deep breath in. "You were our friend! We trusted you! And it turns out that you were working for Malistaire all along!"

Valdus calmly stood there as Alyssa continued blindly. "And you... because you helped him... thanks to you Malistaire was able to kill all the theurgists-"

"Actually, he didn't. I did."

Alyssa froze, the breath knocked out of her by an invisible wind.

Riley kept looking back and forth between Alyssa and Jacob and Valdus. What was going on? Theurgists, Malistaire, betrayal... something wasn't right.

Jacob's lower lip dropped open. "Wha... _you_ did that?" He was so shocked it was as if he had forgotten that he was supposed to be angry.

"Of course it was me. Do you honestly think that old fool could match up to me?"

"If you're working for him, then obviously you have some respect for him!"

Valdus closed his eyes and gave a low, amused chuckle. "Wrong again. You see, after you two fled, I killed him personally. He was going to betray me sooner or later, so it was best that I dispatched of him quickly."

Alyssa blinked a few times. "But he was so powerful! How could YOU have killed him?!"

"Simple. I manipulated you two to weaken him enough so I could finish the job effortlessly. Bravo."

"So we were close to defeating him?"

"Correct- and that didn't look like an easy feat to you two. The only other people I can think of who got as close as you were a duo of necromancers. But in the end, they were captured."

Alyssa set off like a bomb once the word 'necromancer' reached her ears. "ANGIE!" she screamed shrilly. "WAS SHE ONE OF THE NECROMANCERS?!"

"Angie?" Valdus seemed confused for a moment. "Oh yeah- your pathetic sister? Granted, one of the necromancers mentioned was a girl, but I promise on my life that she was not that girl. Let's just say that these necromancers weren't your average wizards-"

"THEN WHERE'S ANGIE, YOU LITTLE-"

The green-haired boy calmly interrupted her. "I also promise on my life that I do not know the whereabouts of your sister."

Even Riley, despite not knowing the situation, could tell that Valdus wasn't even attempting to make that lie sound real.

Alyssa blinked back tears furiously. "THAT'S A LIE! YOU WORKED FOR MALISTAIRE, YOU KNOW WHERE SHE IS, DON'T YOU?!"

"Correction- I used to."

By this time, Alyssa was frothing in so much rage that Jacob took a step back carefully. "Okay, um, Alyssa-"

Alyssa mentally tossed aside Jacob's concern. "Enough talk!" She ripped out another one of those sticks from her pocket. "You're going to tell me where she is right now, traitor, or pay the price!"


	6. Chapter 5: Lies

Chapter 5: Lies

_"You're going to tell me where she is, or pay the price!"_

With that, Alyssa furiously etched another one of those symbols in the air, which quickly broke to allow a large, purple dinosaur to stomp onto the field of battle and blare a roar straight into Valdus's ears. Almost effortlessly Valdus smirked and summoned another minotaur to fight for him.

Unlike the leprechaun, the dinosaur fought back furiously, quickly ripping the minotaur apart to shreds. Once the minotaur was obviously disposed of, the purple dinosaur dissolved as well.

And by that time, Valdus was gone.

Alyssa shook furiously, lips quivering in an effort to bite something awful back. The air around her was thick and moist, and in the end, she couldn't hold back a cry of frustration and punched the wall of the mine as hard as she could.

She felt as if her very heart was being ripped apart slowly and painfully. "Angie…" she muttered regretfully. "Angela, where are you?"

The diviner then felt a warm but callused hand land on her shoulder- Jacob. "Don't worry- at least we've got a lead. That's closer than we've gotten the past year or two."

"Yeah- at least she isn't _dead_," said a bitter voice.

Alyssa's head slowly rose to see Riley hanging her head down. "Sabrina… it's all my fault! If I hadn't invited her to this stupid mine, than she'd be alive!"

Jacob bit his lip and shook his head slowly. "Great, now I've got two overly emotional girls to deal with."

Riley then stood up and whirled around dangerously. "Oh, that's easy to say when you didn't watch your only friend die before your eyes!" She jammed her palm furiously into the pyromancer's chest, shoving him back as hard as she could.

Alyssa ground her teeth in agony- then quickly saw a way to turn all of this to her advantage.

She drew in a deep breath. "Hey… you know, you're a theurgist," she started slowly.

The other girl turned from Jacob and to Alyssa. "Um, yeah… what about it? Whatever that means…"

"Being a theurgist means you're a wizard," Alyssa explained. "A theurgist is a type of wizard- they pretty much heal and buff their comrades a lot."

Riley shoved a large breath out, blowing her bangs upwards. "Oh, so you tell me I'm a wizard and can do a bunch of awesome stuff or whatnot, then tell me all I can do is heal? Thanks!"

"But listen!" she rushed, quickly readying herself for this next part. "Since theurgists can heal, and your friend is dead… if you learn enough spells, then eventually you'll be able to bring your friend back to life."

That did it. Riley's entire body slacked, and her eyes widened to the size of bowling balls. "Wait… Sabrina… alive again?" she spoke slowly, as if mentioning it would take the possibility away again.

Alyssa forced herself from wincing. That was actually a lie- she hadn't heard of any magic that could bring back the dead. But right now, she needed to find Angela, and to do that, she needed the theurgist's help. And convincing the theurgist that she could eventually bring her friend back to life was the best way to get that help.

"Yes," Alyssa lied. "But you need to gain experience. There are many other spells you need to learn if you're to eventually bring your friend back to life. The best way to get that experience is to come with us."

Riley raised her eyebrows, blinking a few times as if to make sure this wasn't all some elaborate dream. There was actually a chance that Sabrina could come back to life. She couldn't believe it… Sabrina, alive again.

But she'd have to leave home. They'd all be worried about her, she couldn't just leave like that…

On the other hand, Sabrina's life was on the line.

The decision was easy after that thought.

Riley nodded avidly. "If it means saving Sabrina… all right, I'll do whatever it takes. I'll come with you! My name's Riley Carlisle, in case you don't know already- now let's go!"

Riley shook with excitement as she sprinted over to Sabrina, then dragged the stone-cold body from under the boulders and propped her against the wall.

She sighed regretfully, still for a moment, drinking in Sabrina- her brown hair, usually clean, but now dirty from being crushed under the boulders. Her white skin, usually rosy, but now pale, hard and stone-cold. Her vivid green eyes, once so full of life, but now hollow and empty, doomed to gaze into nothingness forever.

But Riley would change all of this. Her hair would no longer be dirty, her skin would bloom, and the life would return to her pools of emerald.

"Don't worry, Sabrina," Riley nearly whispered. "You pushed me out of the way at the expense of your life. You saved my life- now it's time for me to repay you."

Riley then stood up and nodded to Alyssa, communicating that she was ready to go. With that, she promptly broke into a run, anxious to get out of the mine.

Jacob spoke once Riley was in earshot. "Alyssa, you do realize that there isn't a spell that can bring back the dead?"

Alyssa's throat constricted as she nodded. "I know. It pains me to manipulate her friend's death against her. But it's like she said- she'd do whatever it took to save her friend, right? Well, I'm going to do whatever it takes to find Angela."


	7. Chapter 6: Offer

Chapter 6: Offer

"Ehhh... no... uggnnh..."

With that, Sestiva collapsed, face connecting with the hard rock floor. Almost every square inch of her body was in pain, her robes drenched in sweat. And she _never_ sweated.

"Give up! Face it- you can't beat me."

Sestiva hated to admit it, but...

A small, rugged pant flipped out of mouth. "You're... right... but this just proves... that you're... a Legendstone..."

Alex Zelinski walked out of the shadows to where his defeated opponent could see him. "So go away, while I have some mercy left inside," he growled.

Sestiva shook her head despite being in the horrible condition she was in. "No... I'm not... done yet-"

"Go! Now! Or do I have to convince you by force?" Alex jammed his wand under her chin to exaggerate his point.

"But the thing is, you have something we really need," Sestiva persisted. "Hehe... the Legendstone family... the most powerful line of wizards yet. Even the Thunderslashes are barely on par with you guys! Chosen by Bartleby himself to protect-"

Alex's brown eyes widened to the size of the boulders that crashed down earlier. "THOSE are what you need? No! And besides, one of them was stolen recently!"

"By us," she said with a hint of pride.

"WHAT?!"

"And for good reason as well."

Alex looked up to see a new wizard cross over to them- one with shoulder-length green hair, wearing the robes of a conjurer, just like Alex himself.

"Valdus, don't underestimate him!" Sestiva cried. "He's extremely powerful!"

"I know that," he said with a moderate tone of voice. "He is a Legendstone. What do you expect?"

Valdus then turned to Alex with a look of concentration. "You are a conjurer?" he asked as if they actually got along.

Alex nodded stiffly.

Valdus gave a smile- not a genuine smile, far from it- but a smile nonetheless. "Good. I think we'll get along just fine, then."

"Get along? What're you talking about?"

"Well, Legendstone, I hold you with high respect indeed," Valdus began. "Sestiva is an exceptional thautamerge, and you triumphing over her truly proves your worth."

He wandered around the small part of the mine lazily. "I would truly appreciate it if you were to join us. Of course, I would see why you wouldn't join us after my associate assaulted you and your girlfriend-"

"G-Girlfriend?!"

Sestiva giggled, the kind that Alex always heard from teenage girls when they talked about boys. "Well, duh! It's so obvious that you like her! It's too bad, though..."

"What is?" Then Alex remembered the mine. "Wait- what happened to her?!"

"We are getting around to that, Legendstone," Valdus interrupted. "Back to our original conversation. I can see why you wouldn't ally with us, but we have something that would be of very high value to you."

"And that is?"

Valdus tilted his head charmingly and smiled...

_End of Part 1_

* * *

**A/N: Not the longest chapter, but it's the start of many things to come.**

**Anyways, reviewers! Thank you NightSkyWolves and Haley Emeraldhea! ^.^**


	8. Chapter 7: Wizards

_Part 2: Stone of Legend_

Chapter 7: Wizards

"Well, here we are!"

Irises of violet swung around the area in fascination. "Woah…"

If Jacob and Alyssa were setting this up, then they were doing a very good job of it. The chamber's walls, floor and ceiling were all made of fresh, dirt-brown bark, with vines snaking up along the walls and leaves gently swaying down to the floor.

The only flaw Riley found were all the small tents pitched around the walls. Numerous people, with odd hair colors and clothing, mulled about. Almost more people than the chamber could hold…

Alyssa arrived by her side shortly. "Like it?"

Riley nodded rapidly, as if she were a puppy about to receive a highly anticipated treat. "Heck yeah! But…" she looked at her, "why is it so crowded?"

The diviner sighed. "Because it's one of the only places in the Spiral that has been wholly untouched by the darkness. Wizard City is… some people…"

Riley got the message. She nodded, not saying anything more.

Thankfully the awkwardness was interrupted quickly. "Alyssa? Jacob?" First the voice was questioning, then evolved into relief. "Alyssa! Jacob!"

Both Alyssa and Jacob were snapped awake by the voice and someone dressed in blue clothes clamoring up the steps to greet them.

Jacob's golden eyes enlarged while Alyssa smiled like a maniac. "Ian! You're alive!"

With that, the boy finished climbing up the steps to the platform- Riley was immediately amazed.

Waves of lush, ocean blue hair rippled over his head, and enticing pools of green pulled her in. He was tall and sturdily built, and his jutting chin seemed confident yet humble at the same time.

For a second that seemed to hold an eternity, the only word that dared entered Riley's mind was _Hot_.

"And so are you," he smiled, wholly taking in Alyssa and Jacob. Then he noticed Riley. "Who's she?"

Riley would have introduced herself had she not been so tongue-tied at the very sight of him.

"Her name's Riley," Jacob said. "She's a theurgist."

Shock sent his friendly expression askew. "A- a theurgst?!"

"That's right!" Alyssa placed her hands on her hips, spine erect and thin lips smug. "Oh- and Riley, this is Ian. Ian Frostsword. He's a thautamerge- an Ice Wizard."

Everything but the hot guy's name washed over Riley's mind. She licked her lips a few times, her tongue almost too inflated to speak. "H-heh-h-hi there-"

Ian chuckled- music to her ears. "Cat got your tongue?"

"Hey Ian, do you think you can- wait… is that…"

Ian threw his head over his shoulder. "Sure is, Grace!"

This snagged Jacob's attention. "Wait, Grace?"

A girl bounded up the steps, taking her place right alongside Ian. Long, light purple hair wreathed her diamond-shaped face, and brown eyes hid behind square spectacles.

"Alyssa? Jacob?" the girl pushed up her glasses to the top of her nose.

"No, it's Malistaire." Jacob's voice dripped with sarcasm. Then he released a hearty laugh. "Of course it's us!"

The girl smiled and dipped her head. "I am truly glad to see that you're well- and looking victorious, for the matter! Did you somehow beat- wait a moment…" she squinted, then when that obviously didn't work, looked around. "Where's Valdus?"

All happiness drained from Alyssa and Jacob's faces. They exchanged looks, hesitant of how to break the news to her.

"He…" Alyssa's throat tightened, unable to say anything more without ultimately breaking down.

"Betrayed us," Jacob finished.

Both the girl and Ian took a step back in surprise. Like Alyssa and Jacob, they looked at each other, both holding the same pain in their eyes. She rested her head on Ian's shoulder and covered her face with her hand so the others wouldn't notice her tears.

For a moment, Riley forgot about Ian's hotness and allowed her stomach to twist into a knot. Why was this Valdus so important? He took part in Sabrina's death! She felt no sympathy for Valdus.

"But on a good note," Alyssa said quickly, "we found a theurgist!"

Something inside the girl snapped. She stopped her crying, quickly ran her hand across her face, and faced Alyssa. "R-Really?"

She smiled and gestured toward Riley.

Everything negative seemed to melt away in her. "The last theurgist," she spoke softly. Then she regained her composure. "My name is Grace Dreamblood."

Riley smiled, hoping to cheer Grace up somewhat. "Pleased to meet you, Grace."

"Grace is a truly rare wizard," Ian began. "Her primary school is actually the Moon School- not something that's very common." He lifted his eyes up the ceiling, then added as an afterthought, "Oh yeah- and she's my girlfriend."

All air was knocked out of Riley as if she'd just been punched. Suddenly she didn't feel so pleased to meet her.

"Cool," she barely managed to get out through gritted teeth. "I'm Riley."

Grace gave a small smile. "Riley. That's a nice name. Well then, I hope we'll get a chance to get to know each other better."

But Riley didn't want a chance to get to know her better. Man, if all wizards were like Ian and Grace, than she was going to go nuts.

* * *

**A/N: Hey, sorry I haven't updated for a while. You know how RL gets. . . ^.^ The next update will be a lot quicker, I promise.**


	9. Chapter 8: Corruption

Chapter 8: Darkness

"There's still one more, Riley." Alyssa guided her down the steps and made her way to an older, sturdily built boy. "I'd like you to meet Nick. Nick Anvilwrath. Sorcerer- a Balance wizard."

Nick turned around and smiled. "So you're Riley?"

Riley nodded. "That's right."

"A theurgist… interesting," he remarked. "We all thought they were completely wiped out."

"That's what I've been hearing from pretty much everyone." Wow… Nick actually seemed… pretty level. Not as hot as Ian, not like Grace- he could have easily been a normal person. He even had a normal color hair- tree-bark brown.

Nick chuckled. "Well, it's not exactly every day an entire school goes extinct." There was more than one glimmer of uneasiness in his voice.

"Schools? Like, high school?"

"Nah. School as in the category," Nick explained. "Nine of them. The three elemental ones- Storm," Nick jerked his head to Alyssa, "Ice," he pointed to Ian, "and Fire," he gestured to Jacob.

"Next are the three spiritual schools- Death, Myth- Valdus was a conjurer- and Life." He raised his eyebrows pointedly at Riley. "Then there are the Astral schools- they didn't have buildings in Ravenwood because it's such a rareity for someone to have a primary school in an Astral school. They're Sun, Star, and Grace here is a Lunarist, a Moon wizard."

A faint tinge of red appeared on Grace's cheeks.

"And in the middle of it all is the school of Balance- or, me." Nick tilted his head charmingly and gestured to himself.

Riley's eyes rolled back into her head, memorizing the schools as fast as she could. Storm, Ice, Fire, Death, Myth, Life, Sun, Star, Moon and Balance. It was a bit of a mouthful…

She remembered something else Nick had said. "You said there are buildings of each school?" Maybe looking at these buildings would help her memorize the schools quicker. She craned her neck to look over at the door.

Jacob's eyes grew when he saw what Riley was looking at. "Um, I wouldn't do that-"

Too late. She was already speeding off toward the door.

"Oh crap," Alyssa muttered. "Riley! No!"

The alarm was contagious. "Don't open the door!" Grace cried.

Riley threw her head over her shoulder and stuck her tongue out at Grace. Served her right, being Ian's girlfriend.

"Shoot!" Ian sped off after the theurgist.

She skidded to a halt once she got to the door, quickly flinging it open-

Her heart skipped over several beats.

Tendrils of sheer blackness suddenly flooded the chamber, from which many people screamed. Riley's violet eyes widened, instinctively taking a step back. Her head whirled around, barley able to digest this. Finally, she forced herself to look at what was beyond the door.

It looked like it had once been a beautiful place. Tall trees, cobblestone sidewalk, the outstretched sky.

But the branches of these tall trees sunk down- wilted. Gone. The sidewalk was barely visible through the misty darkness. The light blue of the sky was completely overcome by a hollow blackness. The very air itself was thick and damp- dark and contagious.

The only word Riley could think to describe it was dead.

Unable to bear the sight, she slammed the door shut before much of the darkness could seep through.

For a few moments, the only thing she could do was simply stare at the door, as if it was still open and she could see the remains of a formerly beautiful place.

"What happened?" Riley's lips could barely form the words.

Footsteps behind her. "Valdus happened," Jacob spat. "I think he summoned the Dragon Titan. That's the only explanation I can think of for… for this. That's the only way he could have killed all of the theurgists single-handedly."

Another voice. "Riley." She turned around to see Grace- she was too shocked at the sight to care that it was her. "The reality is, nearly the entire Spiral is just like this. Your homeworld, Earth, might be the only world that has been untouched by the darkness. So non-magical, so irrelevant, that the darkness overlooked it."

Anger churned at the bottom of her stomach. "Earth is not irrelevant!"

Grace was untouched, her brown eyes unyielding and unreadable behind the square-shaped glasses. "That's not the point. The point is, the Spiral is in terrible danger. There's only one way to free it from the darkness that Valdus, that traitor, helped unleash- the strongest of each school combining forces and expelling it. And since you're the only theurgist alive…" she trailed off to allow Riley to finish.

"...You need me to save the Spiral," she slowly realized.

Grace nodded briskly. "This is exactly why you're needed. To free the Spiral from corruption once again."

Riley didn't respond, letting all of this sink in for a moment. She looked at Alyssa and Jacob, Ian and Grace and Nick…

She didn't need to say anything. The silence told everyone enough.

* * *

_"No! Don't hurt him!"_

_"Mommy! Daddy!"_

"Valdus, everything's going to be all right! Run, just run!"

So that's just what he did. He ran, ran even though his legs hurt, even when he didn't know where he was going, even when he heard a cry of agony coming from his own house…

"Valdus. Valdus, are you there?"

The conjurer bolted straight up as if lightning had just struck him in his spine. His eyes enlarged, sweat soaking his face…

"Valdus."

He let his muscles relax slowly, attempting to slow his frantic mind.

That dream again… how he hated that dream…

No, not a dream. A memory.

"Hey- Valdus."

Valdus finally recognized the voice- Tarlac's voice. Had he…

"Sorry." At least he _sounded_ calm. "What is it, Tarlac?"

"I've found him."

Valdus's breath was abruptly caught off. "A-Are you sure?" A bell pounded in both of his eardrums, affecting the stability of his voice and movements.

"Positive. This is him."

Tarlac never messed up. If this was him, than this was him.

James Sunthief. A theurgist. Arrested over ten years ago for killing an entire family save one person after going insane due to his daughter's death. Later executed.

But Valdus wasn't done yet. Almost, but not quite.

"What's his name? The location?"

"His name Joshua Romano- or Joshua Sunthief, the son of your family's killer. He lives with a foster family and brother in Italy, halfway across the world from where you are now."

A thin line that was Valdus's lips curled into a cruel smile. "Perfect. Thank you, Tarlac."

In Italy, Tarlac dismissed his thanks. "Did Sestiva find Legendstone?"

Valdus looked over his shoulder at the two sleeping forms- Sestiva and, after much persuasion, Alex.

"She did. And we persuaded him to lead us to what we need."

"Nice. I'll join you in California soon, all right?"

"Of course. Good work, Tarlac." The necromancer did not respond.

Valdus rested his chin on a balled fist and closed his eyes, at peace. At last, after so years of grieving, things were going right.

Joshua Sunthief. Within three days, his life would come to an end.


	10. Chapter 9: First Spell

Chapter 9: First Spell

"Come with us."

Jacob then walked up to the wall of bark, felt around for a moment, then slid a part of the wall large enough to serve as a door. He stepped to the side and gestured for them to go in, which they did.

"This is a room for training," he explained to Riley as she walked in. "Ever since the Spiral has become shrouded in darkness, Bartleby fashioned another part to the Wizard City Spiral Chamber- a space to train."

"Train? Train in what?" Riley asked as she walked into the room. The word that immediately came to her mind when she observed her surroundings was box. The room's walls were designed so it was fashioned into a completely squared room, with no furniture spread about whatsoever. It was as if someone had designed it but had forgotten to come back to it.

Ian smiled as he walked in after her. "Magic. I'm glad we have a new place to train- the one where Sestiva and I practiced was good, but when the darkness-"

Riley's breath snagged when she heard the word, 'Sestiva' come out of his mouth. She spun on her heels and shot him an accusing look. "What do you mean, 'where Sestiva and I practiced'?" Was he talking about that same blue-haired chick that had attacked her back on Earth? Because if so…

Crimson decided on settling on Ian's cheeks. "Yeah. She's sort of my sister."

For a moment, all she could do was stare, unwilling to come to terms with the realization. First Ian had a girlfriend, now that psychotic bluenette was his sister?!

She was liking him less and less.

"I know you're new to magic, Riley," Nick interrupted, preventing her from smacking Ian for being Sestiva's sister, "but you've gotta learn and you've gotta learn fast. Alyssa will show you the basics first, since she's the best at casting spells out of all of us."

"Nick, I'm a horrible teacher!" Alyssa protested. But she found herself walking towards Riley despite her complaint.

"All right, so casting spells is relatively simple," the diviner began. "First you gather the energy deep inside you, then you give it form. Like this-" she took a deep breath and etched a glowing purple symbol into the air, "then release it." She tapped her wand against the symbol, and in turn, it released, offering a purple cobra in exchange. The purple cobra quickly vanished with a flick of her hand.

Alyssa spun around and flashed Riley a smile. "You try."

All Riley did was stare at her. As if it was that simple!

But she had no choice but to do as she said. If she wanted to bring Sabrina back to life…

Riley relaxed her shoulders, summoned a deep inhale, closed her eyes, then tried doing just as Alyssa had said and reached out for some deep, inmost energy or whatever.

She kept looking, looking…

Nothing.

_Try again,_ she urged herself. _'Course you're not gonna get it right on your first try._

But as time passed, she couldn't get it right on her second, third, fourth, fifth, or even her twentieth try. Before she knew it, almost an hour had passed and she still had nothing- at this rate, Grace, Ian, Alyssa and Jacob had all decided to give it up and practice a bit on their own. Only Nick remained, still cheering her on, which was appreciated at first, but over time it just felt as if he was mocking her.

She couldn't take it anymore. Her gut reeled back as if she had been stabbed and gave a frustrated cry.

"It's not working!" Riley yelled. Everyone dispelled their creations and turned to look at her. Her mind working furiously and not knowing exactly what to do, she shook her head like a madman and stood up, beginning to stomp out of the room. "You guys have the wrong girl!"

"Wait!" Nick stood up as well and lunged after Riley. "Don't give up just yet!"

She threw her head over her shoulder, her eyes flashing a warning. "This… this is crazy!" The words fumbled out of her mouth.

Jacob sighed. "Look- you can't just leave. We need a theurgist if we want to restore the Spiral, and that theurgist is you."

Riley stopped walking and stood her ground, balling her fists. "Theurgist, theurgist, theurgist!" The words were spat out. "Look, the sight of all that black stuff was shocking, but right now, I don't care! If you guys can't find a theurgist- well, not my problem! You just want to-"

She halted in the middle of her substance when she felt an unfamiliar swelling gather deep inside her.

Her muscles relaxed, slowly identifying this unfamiliar feeling- like a deep tingling at the very bottom of her stomach.

Was this…

One more try.

Riley's mouth enclosed around air, not quite inhaling. She closed her eyes, readjusted her footing, and attempted to steady herself from her outburst.

_Focus,_ she told herself. _It really does look like these guys need your help… and Sabrina needs it, too._

Her throat tightened at the sheer memory of her. Underneath their eyelids her pupils hardened, outwardly recognizable by her eyelids narrowing. She remembered Alyssa's instructions and began to gather this energy bit by bit, pulling it upwards, upwards, upwards…

Suddenly her eyes snapped open, immediately finding what appeared to be green sparkles bordering her hands. The feeling was mounting so quickly that it nearly threw her body off-balance. She faintly heard someone yell for a wand…

Something was jammed into Riley's hand shortly- a stick, except it looked a bit more polished than a normal stick would-

Before she knew it, the green sparkles faded into Riley's skin. The same green sparkles materialized at the wand, then burst out of the stick in a flash of green.

Once out of the wand, the green quickly melded into something… bizarre… Riley didn't quite know what to call it. A little green thing, somewhat reminiscent of a human, with a violin and wings. It chuckled as it played a bit of music, and this bit of music made Nick flinch.

After the little green creature disappeared, no one spoke. No one or nothing moved- nothing but Riley's lips.

What she had done… it was magic. Magic. Magic, which most people on earth didn't believe in, which she had thought was impossible…

But it wasn't.

All this power… she was a wizard.

A theurgist!

Never before had a wave emotion overcome her as much as this one. She did it! She had performed a spell, just in the Harry Potter books, in all the movies she had seen! She was a wizard…

She could revive Sabrina!

Suddenly she felt as if she were ready to take on anything, anything at all, and nothing could stop her. A laugh erupted out of her lips, uneasy at first, then gradually building and gathering power.

"I… I did it!" Riley cheered. She jumped into the air, doing a brief twirl. "You guys were right… I really am a wizard!"

Ian was the first one to join her. "Nice job! Your first spell!"

Nick had a smug green on his face. "Toldja you could do it."

Alyssa shrugged. "It's just an imp, but good!"

Jacob nodded briskly. "Congratulations."

"Guys… I hate to break the moment, but there's a problem."

Grace's voice called everyone to attention and tore the cheering to pieces. Her form was hunched over something far back in a corner.

"…This isn't good."

The formerly joyous color drained from Riley's face as Alyssa asked, "What is it?"

"I picked up Valdus's location." Grace showed everyone a small device- something that could have easily been from Earth and reminded Riley of a GPS with the way it showed Valdus as a red dot.

"I thought you guys didn't have any technology," she noted. "Doesn't magic belong in medieval lands and whatnot?"

"Grace is, like you, from Earth," Ian explained, "and she has a pretty good grip on the way technology works as well. Her technology skills were very useful for finding you."

She continued before Riley could say anything to that. "Valdus has one more on his side- last time I checked, it was just him and Sestiva. Not only that, but they're heading somewhere… for a bank, I think. And in that bank is something that almost radiates power."

Alyssa and Jacob exchanged worried looks. Ian shuffled his feet when she mentioned Sestiva. Nick tensed.

"…This isn't good, is it?" Grace looked up and dared to ask the question to all of them.

Nick shook his head. "No, you're right. This doesn't look good at all."

Grace looked at the novice theurgist. "I believe it's already time to put what little skills you have to the test."


	11. Chapter 10: The Bank

Chapter 10: The Bank

Three hours later, Riley, Alyssa, Jacob, Ian and Nick were all stationed around a Zion's Bank in Los Angeles, California.

Riley fingered her earpiece and immediately found a wave of reassurance from it. She was still very new to all of this, and her earpiece reminded her that she had support.

"Each of you will have an earpiece in which to communicate with," Grace had explained before they left. "Because I'm staying here and monitoring the situation, this is my way to communicate with you."

After that she went over the layout of the bank and what to do should they find Valdus, Sestiva or whatever new member they had. Then she moved onto enemy classifications.

"If they're a 1, 2 or 3, then that means they're so easy to dispatch that even Riley will be able to take care of them without a sweat," Grace began. "Usually those apply to humans. 4s and 5s Riley won't be able to dispatch, but the rest of you will be able to. Those are usually armed humans, with guns and such. 6 and 7s are the rank of the average wizard- however, grandmasters, legendaries, transcendent will be 8s. Valdus and Sestiva are both 8s.

"The last two are 9s and 10s. 9s are usually either extremely powerful, prodigious wizards or some other especially dangerous creature. As for 10… if you meet a 10, my advice? RUN AWAY."

Grace closed in on her digital map of the bank. "There's only been one time I've ever detected a 10, to be honest. Wanna know what that 10 is?" Before anyone could answer, she flipped her device over and showed them a setting completely composed of white save a small, almost blindingly red small circle.

"_That_. I'm not sure what it is, except for that this is what Valdus and Sestiva are after. If they get their hands on it… who knows what could happen?"

Suddenly Ian's voice filled her ears. "I see them!"

Riley's head spun around as if he was actually standing next to her. "Where?"

"By the entrance of the bank. They're talking to this clerk guy… and I see the newbie."

"What does he look like?" Now Alyssa's voice rung through her ear.

"More or less an average figure. Pale skin, brown hair that's a little long, brown eyes."

Riley froze right then and there, an overwhelming mixture of shock and fear wrenching into her gut like a knife.

_Alex_.

* * *

"Thank you very much, Legendstone," Valdus acknowledged. "Honestly, we could not have done this without you."

Alex Legendstone said nothing, simply staring ahead plainly. No emotion was visible on his face.

Valdus drew in a deep breath and clasped his hands behind his back, faintly noticing Sestiva attempting to flirt with a blonde earth boy who wasn't giving her the time of day. Already they were so close…

"It must have been hard, betraying your entire family like that," he continued after a moment of pregnant silence. "And along with that almost everyone you've known, your line of ancestors-"

"Shut up," Alex growled.

It then occurred to Valdus that he wasn't exactly making this easier for him. He readjusted the position of his fingers, searching his mind for some new tactics on how to approach him.

"You do realize that this will be worth it, right?" he finally settled on.

The words didn't seem to reassure him, but they didn't allow him to protest, either.

"I honestly know how it feels to lose someone important to you," Valdus continued. That one string of words was honest, holding a truth that he didn't want him to know, and for that Valdus directed his crimson eyes away.

"I wish I had the opportunity to save my family before they were murdered. You're… you are lucky that you have a chance. All I can do for the ones I love is to avenge them."

Alex's voice was flat. "And you did that by murdering every single theurgist in cold blood," He finally looked at the other conjuror, staring at him directly in the eye.

Valdus shrugged as if he killed an entire people every day. "I had to. Their murderer was a theurgist."

"Mr. Legendstone?"

Alex turned away from Valdus and to a bank employee. "Yes?"

"Right this way."

* * *

It wasn't every day Sestiva saw a boy she really liked. After all, most of the words of the Spiral she had visited didn't exactly have human residents, and the ones in Wizard City were just bleh- except for Valdus. She liked Valdus- a lot.

However, she had to admit, there were a lot of cuties on Earth, and this guy was no exception. If only he'd just stop walking away from her-

Suddenly Sestiva stopped in her tracks when she saw another guy with a blue-topped head.

There weren't many people on Earth with blue hair.

She stopped right in her tracks for a moment, staring at the boy. Short blue hair, fair skin, green eyes…

Ian!

Her brother noticed her a moment too late. Ian's hand fumbled to his ear, hurrying out the words, "They spotted me!" as Sestiva ran to warn Valdus.


End file.
